Midnight
by calicoToones
Summary: Beast Boy's peaceful night's sleep is interrupted by an unexpected visitor. One-shot. [Submission for BBRaeWeek2015 on tumblr] Update: I added a little more to the ending.


**Midnight**

(I don't own Teen Titans)

Beast Boy saw the clock, but didn't give a damn what time it was. He was exhausted, and his whole body ached. He knew what day it was, but thinking about that would only be depressing. When the three Titans made it home, he ate a little dinner and then went straight to his room.

He threaded his way in the darkness though the piles of dirty clothes and clutter on his floor and flopped down on his bed. It wasn't the bunk bed that he used to like, he got rid of that last year. Part of growing up. He now had a conventional king size bed, large enough to hold a sleeping grizzly bear - which, sometimes, it might need to.

With a lot of grumbling, he got up and went over to his bathroom sink to brush his teeth before going to sleep. Being responsible. That was part of growing up, too. He opened the window to let in a little fresh air, no matter how cold the night breeze off the bay was, and he got back in bed.

What a day…He, along with Cyborg and Raven, had investigated a disturbance at the docks and ended up battling a new villain: A shiny, robotic octopus that turned out to be over thirty feet long. And they almost got their asses handed to them. Raven had her cloak torn off and was dragged down for a nice salt water swim; Cyborg's metal armor was scratched and dented. Yes, they won in the end, but it was a hard day.

The only good thing was at least he didn't have much time to think about it being another Valentine's Day. Of course, he was aware that Cyborg was now recharging and leaving in the T-Car in a little while for his date with Rebecca. Beast Boy was happy for his best friend. But lying in the darkness of his room, with his head buried in his pillow, the thoughts of his own situation crept back in.

He still missed her sometimes: Terra. Yes, it was probably for the best that she was gone, but he wasn't having much luck finding anyone else. And how was he supposed to find anyone when he spent his days getting thrown in the air and dragged around the bay by an angry metal octopus?

Then the image of the octopus faded away, as did all this conscious thoughts, and he was asleep…Until he heard the metallic clanking sound of the steel tentacles knocking on his door.

"Beast Boy, are you awake?" The octopus said, but in a female voice.

_What? That can't be real_. He moaned and forced one eye to open slowly.

"Can I come in?"

It was the familiar voice of one of his teammates. _I thought Starfire was away for the rest of the week_, he thought groggily as his hand fumbled on the night stand to press the button without lifting his head from the pillow.

The door slid open to reveal a silhouetted figure standing there. But she was too short to be Starfire.

"Um … Raven?" he said with a little surprise as he peered at her with one eye open.

"Do you mind if I come in?" she repeated softly.

He made a noncommittal grunt and she entered, the door closing behind her.

"Um … Whatever I did, I'm very, very sorry, OK?" he mumbled, closing his eyes again.

"You didn't do anything," she replied.

"Great … I'll ..." He yawned, then continued, "see you in the morning."

After a long pause, she said conversationally, "That was really some mission today, huh?"

"Yeah... Um, it's almost midnight and I'm really tired, Raven…" His sleepy voice tried to not sound harsh, but he really wanted her to take the hint.

"Right. I'm sorry. You go back to sleep."

"Good night," he murmured and relaxed back into the pillow. He expected to hear the door slide open again, but it never did. After a minute, he pried his eyes open once more. She was still standing there, motionless, looking around.

He sat up. "You're just going to stand there in the dark?"

"Can I stay in here a little while?" she said in a small voice.

"What?" His face made a puzzled, but sleepy, frown. "Why?"

She started to feel her way in the dim light over toward his desk chair. "Do I have to say why? I won't bother you. I'll just sit in the chair … if I can find it in all this clutter…"

"WTF, Raven? No, you can not just sit in here and look at me while I sleep!" Then he softened his voice. "Tell me what is going on."

"Well, Starfire is away on vacation with Robin… I would have just sat in ops with Cyborg and watched a late movie, but I don't know where he's gone…"

"It's Valentines Day. He's off on a date with Rebecca."

"The soap opera actress that we met when we chased Control Freak?"

"Yes, they are dating." He made a little smile. "If you got out of your room more, you'd know these things."

She reached his desk chair, but it was piled up with shoe boxes, a teddy bear, and what looked like parts from a model spaceship he was building.

"Well, I can't be alone in my room tonight…"

"What's wrong?"

She didn't answer. Instead she started unloading the chair and trying to find places to set things.

He scowled. "Please don't mess up my stuff, Raven … I've got everything right where I can find it."

She stopped with an exasperated sigh, the kind only Raven could make.

"Just tell me what is wrong," he repeated softly.

"I can't be alone right now, OK? I'm having dreams … about my father … and my room is just too …"

_Creepy? _He thought that, but decided against actually saying it.

"Everything will be all right, Raven. Sure, you can stay here if you need to."

She yawned. "I'll just sleep on the floor."

"No, the floor is cold and you don't have to lay in my dirty clothes. Just sleep on that half of the bed. There is plenty of room."

She walked over to the empty side of the bed, but stopped. "No, it wouldn't be right."

"Who is going to know?" he asked.

She sat down on the corner at the foot of the bed. "We're just going to **sleep**, right?" she said firmly.

"Yes, Raven," he said, rolling his eyes. _As if she imagined there was the tiniest_ _possibility of the two of them ever doing anything else..._

_Wait ... did she_?

"I'm just going to curl up down here, " she said, lying down with her back to him. "I'll go as soon as the sun comes up."

"OK," he said, turning his back toward her. This was weird, but he was so tired, he could barely hold onto consciousness any longer.

"You won't tell anyone about this, right?" she whispered.

"No," he murmured. "No one would believe it anyway." _In fact, I don't even believe it_, he thought. He breathed a few more times, and then his breaths became light snores.

.

.

.

Some hours later, he awoke. _I had the strangest dream, that Raven was here_. _Like **that** would ever happen!_ He almost laughed out loud. Then he became aware of a warm shape near his back. He whirled his head around to see Raven really **was **there**, **sleeping quietly. She had moved up some and was almost snuggling.

He sat up a little bit and looked at her for a while as she slept. A strand of hair hung across her face, moving back and forth as she breathed, and he gently brushed it away. She could certainly be crabby and sarcastic sometimes when she was awake, but now she was sleeping like an angel.

As he settled back down, he thought about this other side to her personality. Would he ever see it again? He thought for a moment to put his arm around her, and fall asleep that way, but decided he probably shouldn't go that far. But she really was here with him - maybe only for this one time...

And, oddly, it felt right.


End file.
